LINZ AN DER DONAU

"Margot"
One of my all time favourite class mates.
Margot and I used to sing the latest Jazz hits a capella
She has lived in Linz for ever and a day and she showed me around.

This is Donatusgasse 33.
Gladys lived there, she had rented the ground floor.
Those were good days.

The Main Square of Linz.

Welcher ist der Chef?

Margret Reicheneder,
Charley's lovely wife
and her Boss;

in the butcher shop

and "delicatessen"

Who that, who that ????

That's my sister Inge


















...and her care giver
Teresa
....and some
of
her garden.

Hey! Don't I know him?

Yes!
It surely is
my favourite Tenorman.
My good friend

Charley
Reicheneder
in all
his glory

Charley
shops









and pays the bill

Purchase and Sale

Aww, come one, buy one...
I made them myself and your little one
will enjoy it...

...look how cute they are...
how can you NOT buy one???

Oh, well; might as well...
how much??
10 Euros??
So what!

I WON!!!
I got the biggest raddish of them all.

...more of the good stuff...HOME MADE

Home made honey

Home baked bread

Home made sausages and meats

home made cheezes, cream, butter-fat and yoghurt

"You grow it and they will come"

You want to know why all these people come?
They come and see and smell and buy the finest products
grown anywhere.

All of the above isn't even a fraction of it all.

It's Market Day in Braunau

It's Wednesday and Braunau am Inn
features, as every Wednesday during the summer season,
the "Country Market."
Some people have just come to see the sights, smell the smells
and relax in one of the outdoor caffees...

...while others browse the stands
displaying all manner of wonderful food products.

Still others have come to do some serious shopping.

...a tisket, a tasket, where is my woven basket?

The Agenda

What's happening?
Party on the 30th in Braunau
Party on the 2nd August, sponsored by Hilde's daughter Birgit, somewhere in the
Salzkammergut.
3rd August: Off to Bleiburg (Christine)
6th August: Onward to Velden
10th August: Florence is beckoning...
I look forward to a busy time....
bertstravels.

It's hot in Old Braunau

It's hotter than hot in good old Braunau:
+28 degrees in the shade.
So what does one do? One takes off to Hoellerer See.
1/2 hour there, 1 hour swimming and 1/2 hour back.
What a pleasure!!!

Back to Braunau. the main square is totally silent. No car roaring, no dogs barking.
People sitting quietly at the many outdoor caffees,
spooning their ice creams
sipping on their Gin&Tonics.
What a pleasure!!!

Don't be shy

Come on, don't be shy!
Have another Mountain
and view it large.

Dreams, Dreams and Dreams

Sometimes I dream about the most beautiful woman in the world...
sometimes I dream about Peponi's on the Island of Lamu,
othertimes I dream about drifting gently in the breeze, while sitting in a canoe in Hailstorm Creek Marsh...
Last night I dreamt about "A Blog"....(it is now 5 AM)
Remember I complained about Blogs being "upside down and downside up and the First turns out to be the Last." The solution came to me in a dream:
You write the story as you would want to: The Caption, The Prolog, Chapter 1 to 10 and then, finally the Epilog. But you don't post them, you put them into the "Draft" category. Then you let the whole thing stew in its own juices, until even the last "Treppengedanke" (Johnny come lately Idea) for improvements has come and gone. Then you release the whole thing in reverse order.
Why didn't I think of this to begin with???
bertstravels...

There are "Drivers" and then there are "Italian Drivers"

I toodle along at about 140 km/h, since the posted limit is 130...I commit the deadly sin of being in the "fast lane"...thinking, oh simple mind that I am, that at 140km/h you have a right to be in the fast lane. When all of a sudden I notice the absolute furios blinking of headlights behind me. It's a BMW, or a Mercedes, or in fact, a Volks Wagen...(Hitler never had these speeds in mind) driven by an Italian or a German...I make sure I can change lane safely, move over quickly and I am being passed at speeds which make me want to get out of my car to check if I am moving at all....These guys are doing at least 200km/h...Don't ask me why I know that...I just do...
At our, Canadian, highway maximum speeds of 100km/h, one would truly be a danger on theses roads....I cannot imagine going 100 on the 401...(I never do anyway )....
That's all I have to say about "speeds"...
bertstravels

Up is down, down is up: first is last, last is first.

This is the only thing which truly annoys me about a Blog. If you want some one, who opens it to read the photographed happenings in sequence, you had better post the last picture first and vice versa. i can never get to do it this way. So, when i look at the Blog, I get angry, (no, only slightly irritated) that what I wanted to say the last, is there the first. is this what the writers of the Bible had in mind when they said: the First shall be the Last."...etc...
i had no idea that they Blogged in those days.
Bert

To "TOSCA"

So far the absolute highlight of "bertstravels". TOSCA as I saw it on the Bregenz Festival stage, was breath taking, Visually astonishingly beautiful, a total master piece for the ears.
Some of Europe's greatest Opera stars (male and female) were in the title roles, but also, the minor roles were sung by some of the best. The pit orchestra are the Vienna Symphoniker.
And then, of course, there is Giacomo Puccini at, so some say, his finest.
I bought a DVD of this very production. If you behave, I'll let you see it someday.

The Iris

The Iris of this gigantic eye
complements and emphazises
the happenings on stage.
So, for instance, in the "Murder Scene" the iris
changes from a brilliant blue into a veined, blood filled image.